Billionaire investor Carl Icahn reportedly plans to acquire thousands of auto-repair shops as his investment firm expands its budding auto empire.
The investment guru seeks to acquire the auto-repair shops with the idea that they will buy products “directly from his own distributor, AutoPlus, instead of the national car-parts chains,” sources told The New York Post.
AutoPlus will then buy its parts from Icahn-owned Federal-Mogul Holdings Corp. and other manufacturers.
Icahn’s end goal is to turbocharge the profits of the repair shops that install auto parts, sources told the Post.
Icahn on Friday announced that his investment firm, Icahn Enterprises LP, will acquire Precision Auto Care’s 250 service locations. With that deal, Icahn Automotive Group said Friday it will now control more than 1,000 auto-repair shops.
“He wants to do thousands,” a source told the Post, anticipating more acquisitions of small- and medium-size repair-and-installation chains.
Icahn’s chain “will offer warranties to customers, the source said, generating repeat business,” the Post reported.
Meanwhile, Amazon.com Inc. might be riding shotgun in Icahn’s lofty pursuit as the online retail giant itself expands its auto-parts business.
It is possible “Amazon could partner with Icahn and supply his stores,” sources told the Post.
Icahn Enterprises, which recently bought auto parts retailer Pep Boys-Manny Moe & Jack for $1 billion, is bidding for the remaining stake in Federal-Mogul as it builds on its holdings within the auto parts supply chain.
(Newsmax wire services, AP, Reuters and Bloomberg news contributed to this report).
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